


The Protest

by thejokerghost



Series: Schoolboys Can Be Oblivious [4]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Carnival, Homophobia, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-05-30
Packaged: 2020-03-19 20:33:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18977851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thejokerghost/pseuds/thejokerghost
Summary: Enjolras and Grantaire are off to the carnival! Time for corndogs, cotton candy, games, and rides! But something's wrong, and when Enjolras wants something, he'll do everything he can to get it!A protest is organized, a poster is drawn, and a secret is learned.





	The Protest

**Author's Note:**

> Basically a companion story to The Double Date.
> 
> Disclaimer if you want it: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22259485

**Saturday Morning**

R: Enjolras!!!!!

Apollon: what

R: the carnivel's open!!!!

Apollon: based on your excessive use of exclamation marks

Apollon: you're excited

Apollon: also

Apollon: you spelled carnival wrong

R: of course!!! can we go?!!!

Apollon: sure

Apollon: but I'm busy

Apollon: let's go tomorrow

R: yay!!!!!

_R has signed off_

_Apollon has signed off_

**Sunday Afternoon**

"Ha! There's cotton candy in your hair!"

Grantaire playfully bit the pink fluff out of his boyfriend's wavy, golden hair. Enjolras pushed his head away and said, "R! We're in public!"

"That's the point!" laughed Grantaire, grabbing Enjolras' face and giving him a short, sweet kiss. When he looked up again, his back straightened. "Look, Apollon!"

Enjolras turned his head to where Grantaire was pointing and rolled his eyes. "Tunnel of Love? R, do you really think I'd want to ride the most clichéd romantic ride ever in existence?"

"Do you?"

Enjolras' cheeks blushed as red as his favourite hoodie. "...Yes." he admitted.

And so they made their way to the line for the Tunnel of Love, which was quite long. The couple in front of them looked around their age, a girl with a long ponytail and a tall, burly boy. The girl turned around and looked at Grantaire and Enjolras.

"Erm..." she said, "Do you boys know which ride this is?"

They looked at each other, then Grantaire turned back to the girl. "Yeah." He put on his sincerest smile.

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Er... alright then." She turned back to her boyfriend.

That's when R and Apollon bursted into uncontrollable laughter that didn't stop until they reached the front of the line. They might have received odd looks from others, but they didn't care. Grantaire was still giggling as they approached the person running the ride, a middle aged woman with cat eye glasses. The woman furrowed her eyebrows.

"What are you boys doing here? Are you here to vandalize our ride again?  I swear, we have yet to catch those hooligans who did it last year..."

"We're here to ride, Madame." said Enjolras, pulling out his purse.

The woman shook her head and tsk tsked at them. "Please leave. You're wasting my time, your time, and the time of the couples behind you."

Enjolras plopped the pay onto the woman's desk. "We'll be off now. Thank you, Madame." He and Grantaire tried to proceed, but the woman stuck her arm out to block them.

"Excuse me," said Grantaire, "My boyfriend has payed. We'd like to get on, now."

"Leave, boys, or I will call security. You wouldn't want to be banned from the carnival at 18, would you?"

"OI!" Grantaire yelled.

 _Oh dear,_ thought Enjolras. 

"Let us in, or you'll 'ear it from me y'self! I convinced my Apollon to the carnival for the best date ever, and I'm not letting you ruin it! All I want's a nice, romantic ride with my boyfriend! Please?" He suddenly took hold of Enjolras' hand, causing the blond to blush once more.

"Oh." said the woman in dull realization. "You two are actually together. Alright, then, I'll just have to..."

**Two minutes later**

Enjolras and Grantaire were sitting in Enjolras' car, driving to the park. Grantaire was driving.

"Stupid-"-honk-"homophobic-"-honk-"ride operator." Extra long honk.

"R, stop it. The honking might cause an accident." Enjolras received another honk for this comment.

"Have you even thought of what just 'appened!?" yelled Grantaire, "We just got kicked outta the carnival for being gay! That's messed up, man!"

"I'm angry, too." said Enjolras, "But there's nothing we can do about it. That woman is one of the owners. She has her own rules."

"Can't you organize some protest with your krutackin' club or whatever?!" Grantaire shot back.

"One: You've watched Guardians of the Galaxy lately, haven't you? And two: We can't organize a protest for no reason."

"What d'you mean?! The reason's that- we... oh." Extra long, extra furious honk.

You see, Enjolras and Grantaire had only begun dating two months earlier, and they hadn't told anyone of their friends yet. Only the three Thénardier kids knew, and that was only because Éponine had been snooping around. They had decided to make it silent competition. Éponine, Azelma, and Gavroche had snagged first place. They were waiting to see who was going to be second, and stating the reason they were kicked out would ruin it.

"Too bad." muttered Grantaire, "Oh, and Apollon? To answer your first question, I watched it yesterday with my sis."

**Tuesday afternoon at the park**

Around two picnic tables sat the friend group from the Friends of the ABC. Marius and Cosette were sitting on opposite tables, silently pining for each other. Éponine was doing the same, but only for Marius. Jean Prouvaire, the poet, was reciting some of his work to Feuilly, Azelma, and Bahorel. Joly had just rubbed ridiculous amounts of sunscreen onto his arms and face, and was now reaching for his bug spray. Bossuet, Musichetta, and Gavroche were playing catch with said bug spray. Courfeyrac seemed in a bad mood, and Combeferre was trying to cheer him up, but he had no luck. Now, only one person was missing: the leader, Enjolras.

"Where is he?" moaned Courfeyrac, "I have stuff to say!"

"There!" Jehan cried out.

They watched as the red car Enjolras' parents had bought him parallel parked between Joly's car and a police car. Joly winced as Enjolras' fender nearly touched his parents' prized Toyota. Enjolras wouldn't drive that recklessly, would he? Then, to their surprise, their leader stepped out of the passenger seat. He closed the door and the car zoomed away.

"Sorry I'm late!" Enjolras said.

"Who was driving?" Joly asked.

"My mother. She wanted to borrow it, so she offered to drive me." That was a lie. It was actually Grantaire driving. He had a driver's license, but he felt like it was useless because his dad was always using the car. So, Enjolras let him borrow his. "Now, Courf, why so sudden with the meeting call?"

"The carnival!"

At those words, Enjolras' back straightened.

"Ferre and I were booted from it just an hour ago for 'doing nonsense' on the Ferris wheel. We were only cuddling, if that doesn't sound weird. The other couple in the other cup was doing it too, and they said no nothing about that! I think it's 'cause we're gay! I hate it! I hate it!" Courfeyrac's face was red with rage.

"Was this carnival the one north of the city? _Rue des Merveilles?_ " asked Bossuet. Seeing Combeferre's nod, he continued, "'Chetta, Joly and I were there yesterday. This weird old man charged us extra for corndogs when 'Chetta said 'my boyfriends'."

Murmurs floated around. Gavroche, disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm, shouted out loud, "A protest! Let's have a protest!"

"Now, Gav," said Éponine, "I'm sure that it's not necessary-"

"We're having a protest."

They all turned to Enjolras, who was secretly rejoicing. This gave him the reason he and Grantaire were waiting for! He would organize the protest for himself and his boyfriend, and when the others would ask him the motivation? His friends!

The others were still staring when Enjolras barked, "Well, what are you waiting for?! We have a protest to plan!"

**Next week, Monday**

Almost all was ready. They had decided on a date: Saturday. They had informed the other members of the Friends of the ABC, who had all supported the cause. Combeferre and Jean Prouvaire were in charge of the group's online community, who had also agreed to participate. But what about the people of Paris? They needed something to grab the attention of other homosexual Parisians, ones who shared the experiences with the Friends. For their other protests, they had made posters, which had worked efficiently. But the artist behind those posters had graduated from their school in June and she had went to England to learn English. The others couldn't compare to her skills.

Ferre: we need more publicity

Courf: ye

Courf: the protest won't have enough people

Jolllly: we can hire someone

Pontmerci: does anyone have cash to spare

Feuilly: no

Eagle: no

Ponine: no

E: my parents are tired of me borrowing money and never returning it

E: and my salary from le musain is for other things

Chetta: idea:

Chetta: anyone know an artist

Chetta: begins with Grand

Chetta: ends with R

Eagle: good idea

Jolllly: but he'll think it's too stupid

Jolllly: he has no reason to help

E: I have it

E: thanks for the idea Chetta

_E has signed off_

Jolllly: anyone know what he's talking about

Feuilly: no idea

**Tuesday**

Jean Prouvaire stared at the beautiful poster Enjolras' friend had made. Enjolras had asked him to review it before they made copies. It was an abstract rainbow splattered all over, with charming white cursive on top. It obviously had a paint theme, but there was something else. He felt as if he recognized this art style. It was painfully familiar, but Jehan couldn't figure out why.

 _But I don't know any artists,_ he thought,  _Unless..._

His eyes shot towards the bottom right corner, where a small white _R_ was signed like a signature.

"R?" he whispered to himself, "Grantaire? But he couldn't have- could he?"

He whipped out his phone.

Je: nice work on the posters

Je: why'd you do it

R: what r u talking about

Je: the protest posters

R: you're doing another protest

R: I had no idea

R: wait I must go bother your Enjolras

Je: you're really good at text acting

Je: but I saw the R

R: oh

Je: oooh busted

Je: lets talk

Je: to le musain

 

So Grantaire reluctantly made his way to the cafe where his boyfriend worked. He found that Jehan was waiting for him, and that Enjolras' break was in two minutes.

"I see you're here." said Jehan.

"Thanks, Cap'n Obvious." said Grantaire.

They ordered drinks, then took their seats, where they were later joined by Enjolras.

"Let's cut to the chase." said Jehan, "Why did you lie? And I thought you hated each other?"

"Quite the opposite, actually." Grantaire smiled. 

Jehan tilted his head, thinking. Enjolras was sitting beside Grantaire, and he was smiling as well.  _No way. There's no way... or is there?_  Jehan looked under the table and saw his proof. The two boys' fingers were intertwined. Jehan looked back up, eyes wide.

"Y-you- you two-" he stuttered, completely bewildered, "To-together? Like, l-" he had to choke it out of himself, "lovers?"

Apollon and R's grins widened.

"WHAT!?"

Over the next half hour which made up Enjolras' break, the couple told Jehan all about their love story, their silent competition, and the recent incident at the carnival. 

"Wow," said Jehan, "That's quite romantic. Mind if I write a poem, of course, if I don't mention your names?"

"Sure." said Enjolras, "Say, R, do you think you'd be able to make a few more changes to the poster?"

**Friday**

Somewhere near the Louvre, a young couple could have been seen walking by. A girl with a long ponytail and a tall, burly boy.

They were having a good time walking in silence when something colourful taped to a lamppost caught the girl's eye. She pointed it out to her boyfriend, and they approached it together.

It was a rainbow splattered poster. In lovely white cursive were these words:

 _Red and_ _green are oh, so distant,_

_Yet when together, oh, how brilliant,_

_Others shake head,_

_To green and red,_

_But their love stays ever consistent_

"Huh." said the girl, "This kinda reminds me of the boys behind us in line for the Tunnel of Love." She continued reading, then tugged her boyfriend's sleeve. "Let's go there tomorrow, shall we?"

The boy nodded, thrilled to do something exciting with his girlfriend.

**Monday**

"This is nice," said Enjolras, his head resting on Grantaire's shoulder.

"Yeah." Grantaire seconded.

They were sitting in a tiny boat, floating along an artificial river in a dimly lit 'cave'.

Obviously, their protest the previous day had worked. At least a hundred people had shown up, all for the rights of people who weren't straight. The owners had easily been intimidated and they had folded in less than two hours.

And today, Grantaire and Enjolras had come to ride this little, romantic boat. The reason for the protest. The Tunnel of Love.

Grantaire kissed Enjolras' cheek. "I'm so glad we did this!"

Enjolras kissed his boyfriend back. "How many exclamation marks is that?"

**_FIN_ **

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, god, sorry for my bad poetry. Like, really sorry. Jehan's a better poet than that. He deserves better. It's also a limerick for some reason.


End file.
